Ugandan army chief Muhoozi Kainerugaba apologized after accusing the United States of supporting the opposition, before returning to his remarks an hour later.
On Friday, he announced on the social network X the severance of his relations with Washington, affirming that the American embassy was helping opposition leader Bobi Wine, missing since the January 15 elections. "I would like to apologize to our great American friends for my previous tweets, which I have now deleted", he wrote. "I was fueled by misinformation. I spoke with the American ambassador to our country and everything is fine", he added.
In his deleted messages, Kainerugaba accused the embassy of helping to cover up Bobi Wine, who claims to have gone underground after an attempted arrest by the army. The opposition leader denounced "blatant theft" during the vote.
Muhoozi Kainerugaba, commander of the Uganda People's Defense Forces (UPDF), is the son of President Yoweri Museveni, 81, in power for 40 years and recently re-elected for a seventh term. Considered by many observers to be his potential successor, he is known for his frequent and provocative posts on X.
In particular, he announced the suspension of all cooperation with the American embassy, including in Somalia, where Uganda supplies the main contingent of troops to the international coalition against Islamist insurgents.
Last week, he also threatened to hunt down and kill Bobi Wine, saying his forces had killed 30 of his supporters and arrested 2,000 others since the election.
